Our Home-Based Production project supports parents of former street children (or children at risk) to increase their income by producing products which are bought and sold by Friends-International and ChildSafe partners.
How are parents selected?
Parents are identified by the ChildSafe teams when working with children on the streets. An assessment of the family is made and families are selected.
How is it ensured that kids go to school?
Parents sign a contract with ChildSafe partners and Friends-International to be part of the homebased production project: the contract states clearly that children have to go to school and a regular follow-up of the children’s schooling is administered by the teams.
What kind of training do parents receive?
Parents are trained to make products and fully equipped. Parents can build on skills they already have (sewing for example) or learn new skills. Basic business training is also provided to involve the parents at all stages of the production process, including sourcing material and identifying suppliers, calculating their own labor and prime costs, pricing and sales.
Training takes place at the parents’ houses. In addition, courses are offered in the workshop Friends@240, a business that sells ChildSafe Certified Products as well.
What kinds of products are made by the parents?
All products:
- Are made by parents in their homes or in small cooperatives
- Use local material that can be sourced easily by the families
- As often as possible, use recycled material
- Are fun and creative
Products made by parents in Home-Based Production can be found in Phnom Penh at Tooit-Tooit (a stall on the Russian market), Friends 'n' Stuff, and in Lao PDR at Noi-Noi (shop above Makphet restaurant).
Who buys and sells the products?
Friends-International and ChildSafe partners buy the parents’ productions on a weekly basis to ensure regular income and sell them to the local and international markets.
What happens to the profits?
70% of the sales go to the parents, 20% goes to the team monitoring the children’s education and to training new families, 10% is saved on a common account for social welfare (all members of families have a health insurance). On average a family makes an additional 60 US$ per month (when working full-time they can make up to 120US$ per month), the initial objective being to replace and exceed the child’s income on the streets.
